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The Joys of Home Brewing
by Keith Mapstone
In the first of an occasional series, home brewer extraordinaire
Keith Mapstone explains the pitfalls and the joys of making your
own beer.
When most home brewers take up the hobby, they begin with a
homebrew kit. The temptation at the outset is to buy the cheapest
kit available so that initially money isn't wasted should any
disasters occur. There are also parallel temptations to brew
beers as strong as possible, so maximising the alcohol for a
given outlay, or to aim to brew beer as cheaply as possible.
Seeing as the brewer will have to drink this stuff, it is
misguided masochism to aim for a concoction that costs 12 pence
per pint to make, is thin, lacking body, strangely tainted in
taste and a chore to drink. In this article, I would like to
make some suggestions to help home brewers avoid some of the
pitfalls in what is, after all, a cynically price-driven market
place.
First and foremost, always check the ingredients of any kit
prior to purchase. Avoid any kits that contain barley syrup,
barley extract or maize syrup, as these are here to help the
profit margins of the manufacturer, being cheapening agents,
rather than for the benefit of the consumer. I would also
strongly urge home brewers to avoid the false economy of
cheap beer kits, normally 1.5 kg or 1.8 kg in weight, which
expect the user to add 1 kg of household sugar to achieve the
stated gravity and strength. As household sugar is entirely
fermentable, it will provide plenty of alcohol and carbon
dioxide but at the expense of taste and body, drying the beer
in the process and diluting the important flavour-producing
components.
When buying a kit, I would recommend the newer 3 kg format
which doesn't require the brewer to adulterate the its
ingredients with vast amounts of sugar. For 30 to 40 pence
per pint, a consistently satisfying beer can be made. The
other great advantage of these larger kits, beyond their
intrinsic quality, is that they can be used as the starting
point for a number of interesting variations. Principally,
with an unadulterated beer kit, the brewer is free to add a
small amount of sugar, in the region of 10-15% of the total
weight or 300 - 400 g, either to produce a stronger beer if
desired, or a drier beer to suit an individual palate.
The best source of supply for the home brewer in the north
London area is 'The Beer Shop', 14 Pitfield Street, N1
(Tel: 020 7739 3701).
I also recommend the CAMRA book 'Home Brewing' by Graham
Wheeler.
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 7.
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